Today’s Action: Meet (virtually) with your Members of Congress during recess

Congress is on recess this week – and that means it’s time to get facetime with your Members of Congress! The pandemic is no excuse for our Members of Congress to hide from those they represent, because every office in the country has had time to figure out virtual meetings.

The conflation of a deadly virus, a historic movement for racial equality, a build-up of Democratic bills collecting dust in the Senate, and all Representatives and 35 Senators up for election on the same day we vote Trump out means there couldn’t be a more important time to demand they listen to us.

Call or email your Members of Congress and ask if they’ve set up a virtual town hall. If not, ask them to schedule one – or request a private virtual meeting. Choose 2-3 items from the list below, or bring in your other priorities:

• Pass the HEROES Act (Senators). The pandemic is out of control but the Senate has stalled for two months on passing the House’s legislation to support families and small businesses and provide funding to make our November election robust and safe.
• Boost public health to fight the virus. We need a national contact tracing strategy, and funding to assist with self-isolation housing. The price tag: $46.5 billion.
• Demilitarize the police and ICE. End the Department of Defense’s 1033 Program, which supplies our law enforcement and ICE with billions of dollars worth of combat weapons and vehicles.
• Support D.C. statehood (Senators). The 720,000 residents of Washington, D.C. have no voting representation in Congress. With a 46.94% Black population, this is a clear civil rights issue.
• Commit to rejecting police donations. We cannot trust our representatives to make informed, thoughtful decisions to eradicate police brutality toward Black people if they accept money from those police.
• Protect abortion rights. With Trump’s appointees in SCOTUS and throughout our judicial system hoping to overturn Roe v. Wade, it’s vital Congress passes legislation to secure strong abortion access at the federal level.
• …and more. Senators need to pass the Equality Act to protect LGBTQ+ individuals and the Dream and Promise Act to protect DACA and TPS recipients. Both the House and Senate need to defund ICE and stop family separation at our borders. We’re still funding and providing weapons for mass genocide in Yemen, and the AUMF gives Trump (and all our presidents) sweeping authority to make war without Congressional approval…plus so much we haven’t listed here.

Email or call your Members of Congress at their local offices to ask when their virtual town hall is scheduled. If there’s none, ask them to schedule you a private virtual meeting and bring your 2-3 priorities.